Monday, May 1, 2017

You do have some power!

How often have you said something such as, "But I'm just one person. I can't really do anything about that." Most likely, every one of us has said or thought this from time to time.

However, I was just reminded again the other day that we need to take what power we have, join forces with others and bring about the change we seek. I read about the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina. I've heard stories about them before. They gathered by ones, by twos and in time, by larger numbers to call attention to those they loved who had been "disappeared" in the years of military rule that followed the ousting of President Isabel Peron. In the eight years after her ouster, an estimated 30,000 people became the "disappeared ones." Kidnapped, arrested, imprisoned, murdered. And their loved ones had no idea where they were or what had happened to them.

So the mothers gathered—in increasingly larger numbers, supporting one another and calling attention to the injustice. The government attempted to silence them, threatening them and even killing some of them. But the mothers didn't give up. They were taking what power they had to name what was wrong in their society. What they did brought life to others throughout Central and South America when similar atrocities happened in other countries there.

I'm reminded, too, of the women in Liberia who gathered week after week until finally, they forced the various sides in that country's civil war to stop their killing and fighting. Peace at long last.

Let these women be our inspiration, no matter what it is that keeps us chained and feeling powerless. We do have choices we can make. We have personal power. We have each other.